über den Daumen peilen

to estimate roughly without precision

Türkçe: kabaca tahmin etmek

Noun

Daumen m.

Verb

peilen

Topic

Körper und Gesundheit

In a sentence

Der Handwerker peilt über den Daumen, wie viel Farbe er braucht.

How it is used

Means to estimate roughly without precision. Colloquial/idiomatic. Use at work when guessing a budget: 'Das habe ich nur über den Daumen gepeilt.' Nuance: implies intentional approximation, not laziness.

Other verbs that go with Daumen

This is the choice the collocation turns on.

• den Daumen hochhaltento give a thumbs up as approval or encouragement
• (am) Daumen lutschento suck his thumb
• Daumen drehento be idle or bored, doing nothing
• jdm. die Daumen drückento keep one's fingers crossed for good luck

All collocations with Daumen

Other collocations built on peilen

• die Lage peilento size up the situation